Ink and the weather
As my small set up is in my garage at home it leaves me very vulnerable to the weather. Does the weather affect the ink much? Last week we had a heat wave of a few days in a row that were 40 degrees Celsius and now this week I have been printing when the temperature was about 10 degrees Celsius and knifing the ink out of the tins it felt much thicker. Will this give me better prints? I had no sign of slurring on this occasion on any prints, is that the stiffer ink? Or am I getting better at it? (I hope it’s the second option! hehhehee :).
Thanks,
Meaghan
You’re probably getting better! We used to have a really difficult time with stiff ink on cold days. Our building has shared steam heat that’s controlled by the Super, so it’s SUPER COLD on Sundays.
I found a solution that may help you…but its an ultra-confidential patent-pending trade secret that’s for your eyes only. And, uh, everyone else who visits Briar Press, I guess.
We found some L-shaped metal brackets and rigged up a frame to support a hair dryer. When you rig it up on the ink fountain bracket of a C&P, it blows down onto the ink disk and keeps it warm and pliable so you get nice even coating, no matter how cold your shop is.
Uses some electricity, but it’s way safer than the absolutely crazy “ink candle” that some suggest. Try it!
Thank you. I might actually look at a small heater for the whole room! cos the operator feels the cold also :).
Yes I know the feeling of the operator being cold! I can’t wait for some natural warmth, since my press is in a very large room and I can’t really heat it very well, and im tired of starting fires in the other room for the heat (so you go get warm and then print and get warm.. and hope it eventually warms the whole space!)
We have that problem with the cold and have steam heat so sometimes I sit the ink on the radiator where it’s not too hot but just enough to loosen the ink up.